As You Are
by GuinevereEversworn
Summary: AU: In a school meant mostly for those who cannot, or simply will not, blend into society. . . somethings just never change. Their are still bullies for those who are "too weird" and those who are simply misunderstood. But in all of that, can they learn to deal with life? Or better yet, with each other? [ Pairing: Ace x Julius, and perhaps others. :'3 ]
1. Chapter 1 :: Questions

[ Alright, first off, this is my first fanfic that I'm putting on this website, even though I've had this account for ages. Why? Because I'm shy. Very very very shy. Two? You're more than welcome to call me Gwen in comments or in messages. Three~ I adore Ace and Julius as a couple more then what should be healthy. I'm sorry, but I do~ If this offends anyone, please don't read. Or at the very least, don't be rude.

_Note_: I do not own the characters nor the series. As most people don't~ Nor do I claim to own any of them.

However, this is an School AU, mostly because I needed to do something for my Creative Writing class, and I needed to do a dialog assignment. With that established, I decided writing a small story for the two of them, and maybe a few of my other favorite couples would be fun. Guess you'll find out who's all in it by the end, neh? No worries, I don't plan to add in any OC's, aside from maybe NPC's that are necessary for an AU like this one. Enjoy~! ]

**_As You Are_**

"Is it true? What the rumors say?"

The annoyance in his eyes would be impossible to miss. "I don't know." He replies in a hiss, without bothering to honor the other by looking him in the eyes. "I don't hear the rumors about me."

The other laughs a little, and begins grinning. _I didn't mean to amuse him._ Julius thinks to himself, watching the boy who'd approached him. They'd never spoken before. Julius didn't even know the boy from around the school. But he defiantly looked like he was about the same age as him. . .

"Your Julius Monrey, right? I didn't get the wrong guy, did I?" His voice was honest, bright even, which oddly matched his eyes. Lively and locked on Julius' own, when he bothered to glance up.

". . . and you are?" Julius doesn't outright respond, but he crosses his arms over his chest, looking at him with dark eyes over the rims of his glasses.

"Ace!"

"Just Ace?"

"What else would you call me?"

Julius frowns and shakes his head. This boy was clearly just messing with him. It didn't matter if they were in the same grade, if all this boy was going to do was tease him like the others. With that, he pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose and looks back down at the desk he was located at. Back to his book that he'd been reading, a recent prequel to Frankenstein, called _This Dark Endeavor. _

Ace doesn't leave though.

"So are the rumors true?"

Julius doesn't bother to respond, just locking his eyes on the text where he'd left off. He was still curious to see what would become of Victor and his brother Konrad. It mattered very little that he had company right now, especially sense it wasn't like he'd ever asked for it.

"About you coming to this school because your parents were killed?" Julius remains quiet, and Ace continues as Julius flips the page. "Or about the fact that the killer was never found? Some people even say your blind!" Julius rolls his eyes, but glances back at him for a second. Ace grins, and Julius curses silently. Had he just encouraged him? "Well, that last one was a lie. You wouldn't be reading if you were blind! But, I wanted to test you!" His voice was very sing-song, and Julius goes back to his book.

But, despite himself, he says, "Oh, do go on, I'm _very_ curious." A lie. A very very very obvious lie.

Ace continues, "I also heard that you have always been an only child. That you hate it here. That you have no friend. . ." He stops, as though trying to remember more. But, he grins a little and laughs some, as though he forgot an obvious one. "Oh! And everyone says that your gay, because of your hair. It is really long and pretty though, if that makes you feel better."

Somehow this boys honest grin with that last statement just angers Julius, and the book snaps closed as Julius pushes himself into a standing position. Ignoring the brush of his long, dark, hair as it falls over his shoulder and lightly wisps against his hands. _Of course._ Julius did know that one. He got teased for it all the time. That was why he didn't bother talking to people anymore, usually. If they were just going to make assumptions, annoying ones at that, it wasn't really worth his time or effort to try to talk to them.

"Oh! Sorry, sorry! I didn't mean to offend you!" Ace says, putting a hand on Julius' shoulder, trying to keep him from walking away. "I didn't mean it to be rude! I like your hair, really!"

Him liking his hair wasn't what the long-haired teen was concerned about. "Just go back to your friends, and tell them your little game isn't amusing." Julius hisses back, before jerking away from him. Making Ace release his shoulder as he tries to walk away.

"I wasn't put up to this." Ace says quietly, though, as Julius was about to make his way to the door. His back to the other. "I mean it. I'm just. . . curious, is all. I hear all these things all the time, from everyone around here, and I just don't want to make assumptions."

_Aren't you already?_ Julius couldn't help the snide remark in his mind. He was so sick of people trying to judge him and speak to him, that he was just about ready to up and quit this school. He didn't need to be here anymore. He was seventeen now, and legally an adult. He didn't need to be watched anymore, even if his therapist said he wasn't quiet functioning at a normal level yet. Most people who saw what he did didn't, after all. _They always are. And you have to be judging me by some standard, and thus, assumptions. Or you wouldn't have had to give it so much damned thought that you had to seek me out._ Julius usually wasn't this snarky. Not even in his head. But he was sick of this already.

". . . please don't be mad." Ace honestly looked a little hurt. The brunette had an air about him, Julius would give him that much, that gave him an almost child-like innocence to his bright eyes, despite his age. "I just wanted to ask. You don't have to answer, if you really don't want to. But please, don't be mad."

Julius frowns a little and sighs, without ever turning around. "Your name is Ace? What class are you from?"

"I'm from class 2-D." Ace answers. Without looking, Julius could tell he was grinning again. He could hear it in his town. "We're in the same class, actually. I sit about 2 seats behind you and one to the left!"

That was almost creepy. "And you never thought to talk to me before this?" To be honest, Julius was confused on how he'd missed him before. The boy had a bright aura about him, and he seemed almost pleasant. Despite how blunt he was, he didn't seem bad. Why hadn't he noticed him before?

"Well," Ace pauses, "I thought about it many times, actually. I just. . . gave up each one of the times. My friends encouraged me though, and said I should finally try!" He laughs a little, grinning from ear to ear, as Julius notes quickly as he finally turns to look at him again. "But, now that I've officially insulted you once, I'm not so sure it was my best idea. . ."

"I'm not insulted." Julius replies with a huff and a sigh, before rolling his eyes. "Well. . . Mostly."

"Well, can I make it up to you then?" Ace says, coming closer to the long-haired man. His eyes shining with amusement. "Let me walk you home! Or take you out to get a drink at a coffee shop, or something. Please?"

"You almost sound like you're asking me out on a date." Julius is quick to tell him, looking somewhat annoyed. If this boy was hinting at those gay jokes he heard every day, he was going to be upset.

Ace just winks.

[ I plan to add more chapters, depending on how many people are interested. I don't expect this to be a very well liked story, after all, it's my first on here... but I do think it'll be fun to finish, if I get the motivation. Which I'm more likely to have if people let me know that what I'm writing isn't shit. :'D Hope you all liked the first installment of "As You Are." :'D ]


	2. Chapter 2 :: Be Calm

[ Well, here comes installment number two! Hopefully people are actually enjoying this story, not just letting me post things up, because it's funny. O.o; I haven't yet received any comments, so I guess I'm going to have to assume it's okay? At least mostly… -nervous- Well, being an idiot, I'll keep going. I do like this story myself, so…

Enjoy part two! ;'3 ]

Chapter 2 : Be Calm

If he'd expected anything in this day, it hadn't been this: That he would be sitting in the school's nearby coffee shop, listening to this months "top-hits" music, with the brunette who'd approached him. He was sipping at his drink. . . A simple, black, coffee. No sugar. No milk or cream. Just straight up coffee, as he listens to his, apparent, classmate sitting in front of him.

Ace didn't seem like the bad sort. He was overly friendly, almost too trusting, and maybe a little stalker-ish, but in general, Julius didn't hate him. His smile was bright and his voice maybe a little too up-and-up sounding, like nothing could possibly be wrong in his world, but it was defiantly preferred to how most people talked to him.

"Hmm~ I love the hot chocolate here!" Ace exclaims with a note of pleasure in his tone, and Julius just rolls his eyes. Ace pouts. "Oh, don't be like that~ Not everyone can be as _sophisticated _as you are."

"You're ridiculous." Julius says, just taking another sip.

"Why?"

Julius raises an eyebrow, looking at him with slight amusement now. "Why aren't you?" _After all, you approach me randomly, asking me questions, and now taking me to coffee before bringing me back to my apartment. Yeah, you're ridiculous._

Ace looks a little curious now, placing his hot-chocolate down on the table, never once noticing the little bit of whipped cream he'd gotten on the side of his mouth. Julius smiles a little, watching the other until he finally looks Julius back in his eyes as he grins, lifting his arms in a sort of half-shrug as he grins.

It was then that Julius looks behind him some. Looking at the woman who'd made their drinks, as she watches Ace. . . The looks he was getting from a few of the customers as well: People from his school. This coffee shop was run, mostly, but students and staff of the school itself.

_. . . is he that popular?_

It couldn't be. Julius had never seen him around him before, and if he was part of the popular crowd, he'd be pushing him around like everyone else. Threatening to chop his hair, dye it, or writing all over his desk. Something. Ace couldn't be popular around here. It didn't make sense…

"Ace," Julius starts the question before sighing a little and putting his coffee down now. This was absurd. He shouldn't have let the other take him here like this, even if he did it as an apology. It wasn't like Julius was actually interested in him like the other seemed to think he was. He wasn't. . . He didn't swing that way, regardless of what everyone thought of him. His hair wasn't a sign, like everyone seemed to think it was. "Ace, " He repeats, ". . . how long have you been here, in Wonderland Institution?"

The Institution was known for its criminally-insane class roster.

Everyone here was involved in some crime or another, whether they were the victim and just weren't recovering yet, mentally or physically, or they were. . . No one knew the difference. It wasn't made public to anyone but the staff about which were the perpetrators and which were the victims. All he knew, was that once people came here, they couldn't leave until they graduated. It was a safe place, built inside of a thick cement wall: Surrounded with guards, with a proxy of a town built in where students could get used to the work-world before they could graduate and go on. . . Or await their sentence in court, when they can fully understand their crime.

Of course, there were those who gloated of why there were there.

Julius wasn't one of them. And he'd never heard of Ace, let alone why he was here.

"Ah. . ." Ace frowns a little then, and for the first time, Julius notices something as he looks down. The light on his eyes, the glimmer that came off it, had been red. And Julius, despite himself, couldn't help but stare. Ace had scarlet eyes. "About, ah, maybe twelve years? I've been here sense I was five. . ." Ace trails off, looking confused at the other's stare. "Something wrong?"

"N-No, sorry." Julius looks down at his coffee then, hiding his own cobalt blue eyes with his dark, near-black, bangs. But, he looks up again when he realizes what the other had said. . . "Twelve years?"

No way.

_That's not possible. He couldn't have been here that long, I've never seen him before in my life! And he does _not _ seem like the type to simply fade away into the background. His personalities too strong for that!_

"Yeah." Ace admits, looking a little embarrassed. "I'm a bit of a basket case, I've been told~" With that, he puts his arms behind his head, leaning back in his chair. It was just across from Julius, so he doesn't lean back too much. "Least I'm cute~"

Julius just frowns a little and shakes his head. _Bullshit._ He didn't understand this at all. It wasn't possible. He would have seen him if he'd been here for that long… "I've been here for twelve years, myself. I guess we're about the same age, then." He'd guessed so when they'd first met, but he couldn't believe it. He couldn't have been here for that long: Each of the classes, once made, have remained the same. Change is bad for some patients, so the classes never change. . . aside from adding a new one here and there, and someone graduating finally. The classes weren't sorted by age, they were sorted by the intensity of the case. There was always a severe case or two in each class, while most of them were only mild ones, so that not one teacher was stuck with all the truly crazies…

"Yeah. We got accepted in at the same time." Ace says with grin and a laugh. "I remember seeing you at the gate!"

Julius frowns, still not looking up. But he could feel the other's scarlet eyes on his head. He knew the other was watching him, waiting for a reaction of some sort.

He could remember when he first came here. It'd been snowing, very white. It'd only been a week sense. . . He could remember someone out there with him. Another boy who'd come, escorted by police. He'd scared him, Julius remembered that much. . . They'd been about the same height, but he'd been so weird. So calm, with such a pleasant smile, but the cops had looked scared of him. His stomach had twisted, he remembered crying some.

Then the boy did something-

"Don't remember much of it, do you? I think you were still in shock." Ace says now, relaxing in his seat until he was slumped over some, so that he could look into Julius' eyes though his head was still tilted downward. "I'm not mad or anything, I promise~!"

". . . sorry, I really can't remember." He couldn't remember what he did. What the boy did after that, or even anything about his appearance. Had that really been Ace?

"It's alright."

". . . I'm sorry, Ace. Can we get going, please? I have homework to do, and I'm getting a migraine. . ."

"Not a problem!" Ace didn't seem to mind. He takes one last big drink from his cup, before standing from his seat in an almost too easy movement. Almost as though he'd been hoping to be able to leave as well. "I'll still escort you home~ I made that deal with you, didn't I?"

Julius shakes his head. "You don't have t-"

"I know! I know I don't have to, I want to~ Come on!" He says, taking the other's hand as he'd started to stand from his seat. Rushing him out of there, just as Julius could hear the back door of the shop open. Someone was coming in? Julius didn't have a chance to see who it was, though, as he was being dragged out.

"Let me go!"

Arguing with him hadn't worked. Before the other was willing to release him, they were more than half-way to his apartment building. Well, sort of. They'd gotten off track for a bit, sense the other had walked in the complete _wrong way_ but, aside from that mishap, the scarlet-eyed brunette seemed to know exactly which building he was in.

". . . how do you know my apartment?"

"I have a friend who lives in this building." Ace replies with a laugh. "They live across the hall from you."

"I'm not sure I believe you. . ."

"Ah, come on! I'll show you my friend and everything, 'kay? I'm not as creepy as you're making me out to be." Ace says with a grin on his lips as he shakes his head some. He was walking at a steady pass now, and he'd let go of his hand finally, but. . .

"Alright."

It didn't take long from there. One more wrong turn, and Julius took the lead towards the building. Ace following closely, walking beside him with his arms behind his head as he watches people pass by. Grinning and waving a few of them, and Julius just keeps his gaze at the ground. Some of those people were some of the ones who harassed him every day, but he doesn't say anything. Why would he? It wasn't Ace's business.

When they get to his apartment, the other could actually make his way around it some. He knew that the proper floor was the third one- Tried to go _downstairs_ to get there, but Julius was starting to just chalk that up to a horrible sense of direction. And when they got to the proper set of doors, Ace just knocks on the door across from the hall, and Julius frowns a little.

"Yes?" The voice behind the door was deep, calm, and pleasant for the most part. Julius frowns a little. He'd never spoken to his neighbor. Why would he want to?

"It's me, Blood~! Guess who found his way here?"

The voice beyond the door laughs a little, softly, pleasantly, before opening his door and leaning lightly against the doorframe. The very slightest of smiles tilting his lips. He looked amused, his bright cerulean eyes curious and his black-hair in a sort of mess: He hadn't bothered to make himself presentable, his dress shirt was unbuttoned in the top. . . He didn't look bad, it just didn't seem to be this man would usually present himself.

With the air his voice gave him, this appearance just seemed off to Julius somehow.

_Oh great, another one I don't know. . . _This was his own fault. It wasn't like he'd gone out of his way to meet his neighbors, but-

"Greetings, Julius Monrey." Blood says as his cerulean eyes shift over to him. During his analysis of him, he'd already gotten through his introduction and Ace and Blood had exchanged greetings. But. . . "It's good to finally meet you."

". . . greetings to you as well, Blood." He'd have greeted him, properly, with his last name but he'd missed it during his thought.

"I finally had enough nerve to speak to him." Ace says with a laugh. "I think I'm annoying him though."

"No, no… Ace, your fine." Julius says, looking away from both of them now. Ace's scarlet eyes, and Blood's cerulean ones. They were both very bright, very intense. Strong. Alive. They were different from any of the eyes of the others he saw around here, and not only because of the color.

"See, you worry too much." Blood starts in, his eyes genuinely kind as he looks over at the other with a slight roll of his eyes. They were kind, the gesture was playful. . . but there was a slight snarky-ness to his tone, overlaid by politeness, that allowed Julius to know these two had had their fair amount of arguments as well. Good friends, possibly enemies once. . . "Now, though, I will not take up too much of your time. My roommate returned back just a bit ago, himself, and I ought to close the door and stop making noise. He is trying to rest." He says softly.

"Elliot?" Ace asks.

"Do you think I'd change roommates?"

Ace laughs as he shakes his head.

"Good. Now, hurry on to whatever it is you're doing." Blood says with a shake of his own head, and a kind grin, before waving the other off. "Off with you." With that, he glances over at Julius. "I hope to speak to you more at another time, Julius. I'm sure we'll get along just fine." And with that, and a wave, he was gone. The door closing behind him.

Julius was, at this point, very confused. Up until today, no one here had so much as said a kind word to him. . . what in the world. . .

"Told you I had a friend here." Ace says with a confident, almost boasting, grin. It was a sort of _told you so_ tone, but it wasn't mean. Just happy to be able to prove his earlier story.

"Sorry for misjudging you then." Julius says before walking over to his own door, getting ready to pull out his keys. Getting ready to head back into his house. ". . . today has been fun, Ace. Thank-"

"Before you go, before I go… can I ask you a question?"

Julius' hand was on his keys already, but he glances over his shoulder to look at the other. His cobalt eyes looking somewhat curious. "I guess one won't hurt."

Ace grins a little, before nodding once. "Thanks." Then he hesitates for a second. His scarlet eyes staring deeply into Julius' cobalt ones for a second.

"Yes?"

". . . well," Ace stops again, his face paling a little, before he puts his hand on Julius' face and leans in. His lips brushing Julius' own lightly, before pulling away. ". . . i-if, if you ever want to give it a try. I… I-I wouldn't mind." For the first time this evening, Ace looked embarrassed. His cheeks showing a light coloring to them now.

Ace. Over-blunt, almost inhumanely honest, Ace… seemed to be at a loss for words.

And with that, he took off. Unable to ask the question full-on, he just leaves. Turning on his heels and running for it. . . Blushing, embarrassed.

Julius' face was worse though. His pale skin allowed a deep, crimson, blush to his face and his keys had dropped to the floor. It had been a light, very soft, kiss. Honest and shy, but. . . Julius hadn't expected it. Especially not from him.

_. . . why. . ? W-What… what am I supposed to do now?_


End file.
